Gift giving is an important part of U.S. commerce. Throughout a typical year, consumers are faced with multiple occasions that require the giving of gifts. Examples include birthdays, graduations, anniversaries, baptisms, holidays, and religious observances. The U.S. Department of Commerce estimates that an average holiday shopping season results in over $500 billion in sales. When all gift giving occasions in an average year are considered, U.S. sales attributed to giving gifts amount to over a trillion U.S. dollars in sales.
Conventionally, gifts are purchased in person by a gift giver and presented to the recipient either personally or via regular mail or courier. In more recent years, with the rise in popularity of the Internet, gift givers are increasingly purchasing gifts online and having the gifts shipped to the recipient. A less common option is to have a third person, such as a personal shopper, purchase a gift on behalf of a gift giver and present the gift to the recipient. Thus, a variety of ways exist for purchasing gifts and relaying them to the recipient of the gift.
One of the drawbacks associated with conventional gift giving activities involves the time gap and location disparity between the purchase of the gift and the presentation of the gift to the gift recipient. Conventionally, a gift giver purchases a gift at a brick and mortar store and then physically transports the gift for presentation to the gift recipient at a later time. When the Internet is used, a gift giver purchases a gift on a web site and then a delivery provider or courier physically delivers the gift to the gift recipient at a later time. The time gap and the disparity in location between the time/location of purchase of the gift and the time/location the gift is presented can take away from the impact of the gift and its utility to the gift recipient. This can be a disadvantage in situations where the gift is meant to be relevant at the time of purchase or meant to be used or enjoyed at or near the time of purchase.
Therefore, what is needed is a system and method for improving the problems with the prior art, and more particularly for a more expedient and efficient method and system for facilitating gift giving activities.